74978: Ruling on praying in the workplace

I work in the Faisal Tower in Riyadh, and when the time for prayer begins, there is a recording that is played over the PA system in the building, telling us of the time for prayer. I have some colleagues who offer the Zuhr prayer in their offices, and they give a number of reasons for doing so, namely:
1- That they cannot hear the adhaan from the mosque, and this is a recording, not an adhaan.
2- They offer the prayer in congregation and so they fulfil the condition of praying in congregation.
3- There is no prayer-room (musalla) in the tower. Although there is a mosque close to the ground floor, they say that this mosque does not belong to the building so it is far away.
My question is:
What is the ruling on their praying in their offices? How should I respond to their arguments?.

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly: the
basic principle is that the prayer should be offered in the mosque, and this
is what the mosques were built for. In the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas (may
Allaah be pleased with him) the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) said: “Whoever hears the call (to prayer) and does not respond,
there is no prayer for him (i.e., his prayer is not valid), unless he has an
excuse.”

And the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to Ibn Umm
Maktoom (may Allaah be pleased with him): “Can you hear the call to prayer?”
He said: Yes. He said: “Answer it.” Narrated by Muslim (653).

This hadeeth
indicates that it is obligatory for the one who hears the call to respond,
and to pray in congregation in the mosque.

What is
meant by hearing the call is that one can hear the voice of the muezzin if
he raises his voice with the adhaan, without using a loudspeaker.

Whoever is
close to the mosque and can hear the call is obliged to pray in congregation
in the mosque, but whoever is far away is not obliged to attend the mosque.

With regard
to their saying that they perform the prayer in congregation and thus fulfil
the condition of praying in congregation, they should note that two things
are required of them:

1-
They should pray in
congregation

2-
This congregation should be in
the mosque.

It is
essential to do both things together. This has been explained in the answer
to the question referred to above. See also question no.
72398
.

Shaykh Ibn
‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

The basic
principle is that prayer should be offered in the mosque, but there is
nothing wrong with office workers praying in their offices if going out to
the mosque will adversely affect their work, or will lead to some employees
playing about if they go out to pray and come back late. If the mosque is
far away, it is permissible for them to pray in the workplace.

What matters
is that if there is a reason or a need for them to pray in their offices,
there is nothing wrong with that. End quote.

Majmoo’
Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (15/68).

Conclusion:

These people
should pray in the mosque so long as the mosque is close by, and it is not
permissible for them to pray in their offices unless there is a reason, such
as if there is the fear that this may cause employees to waste time and so
on.